Photo Credit: Kin Cheung/ AP Photo
Just days after NBA Commissioner Adam Silver announced that Charlotte would no longer play host to next year’s All-Star Game due to North Carolina’s anti-LGBT HB2 law, Hornets’ owner Michael Jordan sat down with The Undefeated to talk about another troubling topic dominating the news. The article titled “Michael Jordan: I can no longer stay silent”, addresses the multiple deaths of African American men at the hands of law enforcement as well as the police officers who were shot and killed.
Jordan says,
I was raised by parents who taught me to love and respect people regardless of their race or background, so I am saddened and frustrated by the divisive rhetoric and racial tensions that seem to be getting worse as of late. I know this country is better than that, and I can no longer stay silent. We need to find solutions that ensure people of color receive fair and equal treatment AND that police officers – who put their lives on the line every day to protect us all – are respected and supported.
In an attempt to help eliminate some of the tension, he pledges one million dollars to both “the International Association of Chiefs of Police’s newly established Institute for Community-Police Relations and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund”. His hope is to help restore both trust and respect in the police and the communities that they swear to protect.
As the only African-American majority owner in the NBA, many look for Jordan to be more vocal about discrimination and other issues. While he has remained silent to the media, he has contributed to the equality fight. His Jordan Brand “is the only one inside of Nike that has had multiple African-American presidents,” (Jackson 2014).
